The best you never had
by journeytomexico
Summary: Lily Potter was nothing like the two strong, sensible women she was named for. In fact, she was anything but.


"I can't believe i'm not going back this year.." James Potter sighed behind his siblings, a hand on each of their shoulders and a wistful tone to his voice. For a moment Al clearly thought he was seriously reminescing and frowned at his brother but quickly after Fred let out a deep laugh and James removed his hands from his brother and sister to cackle and laugh with his best friend.

"Ssh boys." Lily's mother scolded them with a half smile on her face, exchanging a glance with her brother and Lily's uncle, Ron, who both looked upon the pair fondly. Lily rolled her eyes. They were clearly taking some sort of trip down their memories as her older cousin Fred did indeed look exactly like the reincarnation of his father's dead twin.

"You two ready? Got everything you need and that?" Uncle Ron was talking to his children now but both were busy and ignored him, leaving him to step back and hold up his hands. Lily smirked.

The grand farewell at the station happened every year, where all the parents would come and say goodbye to the vast brood that was the Potter-Weasley family. This year was different though, as a lot of them had left the year before.

James Sirius Potter, her older brother, along with his best friend Fred Weasley, his twin sister Roxanne and her other cousin Dominique had finished, leaving only Lily, Al, Rose, Hugo and Louis to return to school.

For some of them it was a sad time. The 'brood' as they often referred to themselves clustered together in times of need, and having such a big family had at one point dominated the Gryffindor tower. But Lily was relieved to have her older brother not hanging around her neck anymore. Crowing about the 'famous name' and beating up anyone that he thought was causing Lily's.. slightly rebellious life at Hogwarts.

Lily Luna Potter was anything but like the two sensible strong women she'd been named for. And while she had been hailed in the papers at birth as Harry Potter's daughter, the golden girl when she'd been growing up, at Hogwarts she'd done everything to change that reputation.

Albus studied his sister. Already stepping a few centimetres away from the others, he knew that the second she stepped onto the train she'd be the same again. Be back to who she was at school. Short skirts, smuggling in muggle alcohol and ruling the hallways. To any outsider she looked carefree, but she was scanning the back of the train station desperately, he could see it in her eyes.

Looking for him.

"Is Teddy coming to see us off?" Rose said the words but the second his name left her lips Lily's head snapped to the left for her father's answer.

"No, he's gone out with Victoire today." Lily's shoudlers slumped, but only for a second, unnoticed by anyone but her brother.

"You kids better get on the train. Will you sit together?" Ginny said this hopefully but her children exchanged glances and nodded politely. They wouldn't. Albus and Rose would find Scorpius then sit with him, Louis was already searching for his own friends in the crowd. And Lily would most likely be drinking somewhere on the train, though where, Albus never liked to know.

"You'll be seeing Ted sooner than you think though. Little surprise this year." Harry winked at them all before his wife and Hermione started to usher them all onto the train, issuing hugs and last goodbyes as the train doors started to close.

"Goodbye." Albus and Lily spoke to both parents as one out of the window as the scarlet engine started to pull out from the station. Lily watched her parents until they were out of sight before turning back to her relatives, eyebrows raised.

"Sit with us, Lil?" Rose tried, but Lily simply shook her head once, a coy smile on her face as she focused on somebody behind them.

"See you later, guys." She said with a grin, and sauntered down the train. Albus, Rose and Scorpius ushered into their own compartment, Al's thoughts no longer with his sister. She was a lost cause, as his uncle Ron would often whisper to his wife when they were at the Burrow.

"Another year of Princess Lily, then?" Rose questioned wryly, clicking her fingers as the three of them sat down together. Albus nodded, shrugging.

"You saw her this summer, Rose." Scorpius intercepted.

"What happened?" Albus shook his head at their best friend. Scorpius' father had made amends with their parents at the end of the war, but wasn't allowed to visit them during the summer as his parents would take him off to exotic places, leaving Rose and Albus to fill him in on the details when he saw them at school.

"Just terrible. Spent the whole time at Uncle Charlie's, or working at Uncle George's joke shop. She won't come back anymore, all mum and dad do is argue about it."

Lily was very much a problem child. She hated her parents, everything they represented and the expectations of her to be perfect. Albus and James fit the bill as 'Harry Potter's children' pretty effectively, and Lily.. well Lily was rarely out of the tabloids. Her best friends were in Slytherin though much to her chagrin she'd been placed in Gryffindor with her family.

"Only person she'll talk to is Teddy, but they argue constantly."

Teddy. Rose and Albus thought they knew what was going on there, Albus thought that Teddy was probably the root of Lily's issues. They'd been best friends while Lily grew up, and Albus and Rose were pretty certain she was in love with him. Not that Lily would ever confirm that, or even talk about it.

"How was your summer then, Scorp?" Rose brought Albus back from thinking about his sister as she questioned their mutual best friend, who grinned and shrugged.

"It was alright. I missed you guys." Albus smirked when the blonde haired boy focused on his cousin when he said that. It wasn't, (he hoped) because he'd missed Rose more, simply because when it came to serious conversations, or shows of emotion, Scorpius and Albus weren't the best.

"I'd rather hear about your summers. What did you get up to?" Scorpius leaned forward, eager as always to hear about the activities of the brood. Albus and Rose exchanged glances. They always wondered whether to play down their summers to Scorpius. The three were very close, the tabloids always labelling them the 'Next Golden Trio'. But they weren't concerned with saving the world as their parents had been, merely living the normal, unthreatened lives their parents had worked to give them.

"Well, Rose fell in our river.." Albus started, earning him a smack on the arm from Rose and Scorpius sat back to the sound of them both shrieking out details of the story, content.

He was home.

Lily sauntered down the carriage away from her cousins, a smirk on her face. Rose hadn't meant it when she asked her younger counterpart to sit with her best friends and herself, even if one of them _was_ Lily's brother. She hadn't even arrived on the platform with them, instead being dropped off by her Uncle George under the pretense of having to work very late the night before. As if. She'd barely slept at home all summer.

"Alright Potter?" Felicity Parkinson had leant out of a carriage door and was looking at her, eyebrows raised. Lily nodded at her, offering a brief smile before heading into the compartment that the Slytherin was leaning backward to allow her entrance to.

"Lil." The call from her left instantly made her smile, her first genuine smile that day.

"Liv." She returned, and fell into the seat beside the speaker, the closest friend Lily had. Olivia Zabini smirked back at her, and Lily breathed out. She was with her friends. On the surface, stone cold Lily Potter could sit here and smoke, drink, swear and flirt with all the Slytherins as she usually did. Could spend all year, as usual, ruling the halls of her school.

And the vulnerable, sad eleven year old that Lily had been trying to quash since her arrival at Hogwarts could stay back on the platform, with her family and wait forever for the man who wasn't ever going to arrive.

* * *

_So this is short because it's a taster and i'm not sure everyone will like this. But if you let me know what you think and I get positive feedback i'm going to continue with this._


End file.
